Stars in Her Eyes {Wolfstar's Daughter}

Chapter 46: Books

"Okay, so how to breathe underwater - that can't be too hard to figure out right?" Ron said as Hermione carried piles of books over to their table in the library.

"Surely not, I mean there's got to be something in one of these books" Harry agreed, optimistically opening up one of the books on underwater creatures Hermione had placed in front of him.

Ron started on a book of useful charms for survival whilst Hermione began eating into her pile about mermaids and Nell drooped over a book on wizarding discoveries about underwater life.

And so they sat there for what felt like hours on end, which in reality was probably one hour at most, the four of them flicking and turning through piles of books until they came to one collective conclusion.

"There is nothing in any of these books" Harry deadpanned as Ron flopped his head down onto the table with a groan.

"So. Tired." The redhead moaned whilst respectively banging his head on the table with each word.

"No, stay awake! We have work to do" Hermione said, clapping her hands loudly in front of his face before returning to the book on mermaids she hadn't yet given up on.

Since the night of the Yule Ball, a slight awkwardness had lingered between the two teenagers but it seemed to lessen the more time they spent together. Now they had just sunk back into their usual awkward undertone which Nell loved to refer to as 'their inability to open their eyes and admit they deeply love each other' much to Hermione's annoyance.

"But Nell's allowed to nap!" Ron whined in protest, referring to the girl who had nodded off at some point during their research, slumped over her third book.

"Turn into a wolf and then you can nap Ron" The girl grumbled, pulling her heavy head up, clearly having being awoken by their volume.

"Fair enough" he quickly agreed as she scowled at him.

"Black, a word" a gruff voice interrupted them from behind one of the bookshelves, making Nell immediately roll her eyes at the professor's continued incorrect use of her name. The four teenagers shared a look of curiosity as to what Moody wanted, but, albeit reluctantly, Nell obliged.

"Lupin-Black" she muttered under her breath before pushing up from her chair and following Professor Moody to the other side of the library. She had to slow down her pace slightly in order to walk behind his hobbling figure as he lead them across the room.

"You're helping Potter" he humphed as they finally stopped between two bookcases.

"Yeah" she remarked simply, confused as to why he had called her over here just to point out the obvious.

"Why?" He grumbled, his irritation shining through in his tone.

"He's my friend" she snapped slightly, her already lacking patience wearing thin during this seemingly pointless conversation.

"You should be focusing on how you are going to win the task, not helping him and certainly not sharing your plans with him!" He snapped back, his voice raising slightly making a few heads turn their direction as Nell stood shocked at his sudden outburst. But she quickly composed herself and narrowed her eyes at the man, far too annoyed to care about any possible repercussions for her next words.

"I don't think that's any of your business Professor, and if you're going to pull me away from my friends at least have the decency to use my real name. Lupin-Black. Now if that's all." She retorted harshly, before turning on her heel and heading back to her friends without giving the man the chance to say another word.

More than anything she was confused by the Professor's sudden obsession with her role in the tasks, and more specifically her succeeding. In fact she was confused as to why he was talking to her at all. Either way, she knew she probably shouldn't have snapped at the teacher but was far too tired and irritable to care especially because he had been the one to drag her away from her friends and overstep the line.

"What was that about?" Harry asked as she plopped back down into her chair beside him with a huff.

"There's a reason that man is called mad-eye" she grumbled before planting her face back down onto her pile of books as her friends watched her with matching confused expressions.

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"Guess who" Nell grinned, bending down to speak into Cedric's ear where he sat at the Hufflepuff table for breakfast. The boy's face immediately lit up when he recognised the voice behind him.

Harry had tried to hide the way his face fell when Nell excused herself from their table after spotting Cedric across the room halfway through breakfast. And it seemed to work, Nell remained oblivious and didn't notice but someone else did.

"I feel like I haven't seen you in ages" Cedric beamed, craning his head round before shuffling over for her to sit down beside him.

Most of Cedric's Hufflepuff friends had become accustomed to the Gryffindor girl joining them occasionally to talk to Cedric, something they loved to tease him about when she wasn't around.

"Yeah well you know, schoolwork, lessons, trying to figure out how not to drown for an hour - it keeps a girl busy" she shrugged with a playful smirk tugging at her lips. The rest at the table fell back into their own conversations around the pair.

"Thank you by the way - for the clue" she smiled genuinely, leaning into his side casually making the boy's heart flutter slightly at the sudden contact.

"Anything for you Gryffindor" he smirked, quickly shaking away his previous thought as she scowled at the name.

"I thought I told you I didn't like that nickname" she said scrunching up her nose as he laughed.

"You did" he grinned boyishly and swerved as she went to smack him on the arm.

"Hey you call me Hufflepuff!" He argued as she finally gave up on trying to whack him and resorted to stealing a piece of toast off of his plate.

"Exactly, so stop jumping on my thing" she said, waving the piece of bread around.

"But really, thank you for the clue - me and Harry weren't getting anywhere with those eggs" she added, a small grateful smile grazing her lips as she looked up at him, making his heart flutter again.

"No problem" he smiled back.

The two fell into a comfortable silence, letting the noise of the conversations around them take over as Nell took a couple of bites from her toast and Cedric finished the piece of bacon on his fork.

Several people filtered out of hall whilst they ate leaving it far quieter than when Nell had first sat down to join him at the Hufflepuff table.

"You nervous?" Cedric eventually asked obviously referring to the upcoming task they would both be taking part in but hadn't actually yet discussed.

"I think that would be an understatement" she laughed lightly "but if it's anything like the first task then..... we'll get through it"

"Well I think you're hugely underestimating yourself" he said with a nudge of her shoulder with his own as she felt her cheeks flare slightly.

"So....why don't you tell me about you and Cho? She looked very lovely at the ball" Nell changed the subject, not really knowing how to respond to the compliment as Cedric's smile dropped.

"What? Oh- no we just went as friends" he said quickly, looking down at his plate.

"Oh really?" Nell teased, using a purposefully insinuating tone as Cedric shook his head.

"Yeah, she's great but I don't like her like that." He said, furrowing his brows and still shaking his head.

"Oh, I just thought-"

"Nah. We should probably head off, lessons are gonna start" Cedric said, ending the conversation as he grabbed his bag and stood up before offering his hand out to help Nell up who, despite being slightly confused, accepted.

A/N: Not a long one but I'm tired
lol aren't we all
Rewritten version of chapter one is up, I'm currently working on chapter two so that should be up soonish